


A Gift of Strength, A Gift of Hope

by Judaiandjohan, pulveremcomedesligulas, xcyfiawnderx



Series: We fucked up and made a super hero au [14]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: (More tags to be added later) - Freeform, Family Feels, Gen, Legend learning to be himself, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Wild is an awesome supportive sibling, genderfluid Wild, genderqueer Legend, these kids have better fashion sense than I do
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23034523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Judaiandjohan/pseuds/Judaiandjohan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/pulveremcomedesligulas/pseuds/pulveremcomedesligulas, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xcyfiawnderx/pseuds/xcyfiawnderx
Summary: The gift was a necklace, but it was neverjusta necklace.
Series: We fucked up and made a super hero au [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1460854
Comments: 10
Kudos: 129





	A Gift of Strength, A Gift of Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Note for the chapter:
> 
> Some slight references to gender dysphoric feelings, though never described in detail.

Legend glared at the pile of clothes on his bed, then at the remaining clothes in his closet, then back at the pile on his bed. He growled as he turned back to his closet for what felt like the fiftieth time that morning, but still nothing he owned felt right for today.

He knew what was going on. At least… he figured he knew. 

It had been a few weeks since he’d talked to Wild about gender and while mentally Legend had gotten used to describing himself as genderqueer (or ‘I don’t give a fuck’ gender - he liked that description best), it still wasn’t something he was… open, about. 

He’d told Malon, Time, and Twilight a week or so ago, but beyond the three of them, Sheik, and Wild, no one else knew. 

It wasn’t so much that he was scared to let others know - Wild had assured them that everyone he was friends with was completely accepting of his own gender, so there was no reason they wouldn’t accept Legend’s also. 

No the main reason Legend hadn’t really told anyone else was because… well he just hadn’t really felt like there was a need for it. He still used ‘he’ pronouns, still typically referred to himself as a male (even though he knew he wasn’t really, but that was a technicality).

He still dressed masculine, even though he had expressed an interest otherwise to Wild. They had plans to go shopping at some point, but every time they got ready to go… Legend had decided against it. 

Which was something he was currently regretting.

Looking at the clothing that he had, Legend just knew that nothing he currently owned would feel right today. 

But… he also didn’t know _what would_.

With a groan, Legend turned from his closet and marched across the hall to Wild’s room. He hesitated as he reached up to knock at the closed door, wondering if this was really the choice he wanted to make today. 

He could always just go pick the least offensive clothing items he owned and wear those. It would likely make him miserable for most of the day, but he could do it. 

But was that even what he wanted?

Legend knew it wasn’t. So with a breath, he let himself knock on the door of Wild’s room.

It only took two seconds for the door to open after he knocked, as if his sibling was waiting on the other side of the door. 

“Morning Legend!” Wild said cheerfully. 

Wild was already dressed for school, wearing a sky blue , short-sleeved sundress decorated with a swirling embroidered design, with white flats and a narrow matching belt to complete the outfit. 

Legend felt a strange feeling of… jealousy? as he took in his sibling’s outfit. Okay, so he definitely wouldn’t have been happy with his clothes today if this was how he was feeling.

“Cute dress,” Legend replied with what he hoped was a supportive smile. The way Wild beamed after told him that it was. “Pronouns today?”

“She/her,” Wild replied smoothly, her voice pitched just slightly to sound more feminine. She tilted her head to the side when she noticed that Legend was still in his pajamas.

“You aren’t… dressed yet?” she asked. “But… we have to leave soon. Twilight’s gonna yell at you.”

“I know,” Legend groaned. “But… I couldn’t find anything. Or… none of my clothes felt right.”

He said this last part as a mumble, crossing his arms over his chest and hunching in on himself. 

“Oh,” Wild said with a slightly sympathetic tone. Then she exclaimed “Oh! So were you wanting to borrow some of my clothes?”

Legend peeked up from the floor to see Wild with an excited gleam in her eyes. Her long blonde hair was loose around her shoulders - still sticking up in places so Legend assumed Wild hadn’t done anything to it yet. 

“Uh, yeah actually. If that would be okay.”

“Awesome!” Wild said, reaching out and grabbing Legend’s wrist to drag him into her room. “Sit here I gotta grab a few things.”

Legend had no room for argument as Wild shoved him into her papasan chair and rushed over to her closet. She dug in the closet for about a minute, mumbling to herself until she reemerged, holding two shopping bags behind her back. Legend raised an eyebrow at her, but didn’t say anything as Wild grinned at him.

“Okay, first I need to know how you’re feeling today,” she said. 

“What do you mean?” Legend asked. “Like my mood?”

“No, well… kinda. But I mean what is your… gender feel?” she frowned as she scratched her head, the bag in that hand swinging up beside her head like she had forgotten about it (she probably had). “That’s probably not the right way to describe it.”

“It’s a way that makes sense though,” Legend said in a resigned tone. With a sigh, he leaned his head back. “I’m not sure how I feel. I don’t… I just know it’s not masculine, since none of my clothes felt right.”

“Hmm, okay so maybe something neutral then? Though feminine could work too...” Wild pondered aloud. Legend wasn’t sure if he was supposed to respond, especially since he didn’t know _how_ to respond. 

Wild held the bags out in front of her. Both were very plain on the outside, so Legend couldn’t tell what stores they were from. Wild seemed to consider her options before nodding.

“This one,” she said, holding the bag in her right hand out to Legend. Legend took it slowly, giving Wild a skeptical look. Wild just grinned. 

“I’ll leave you to change while I go fix my hair,” she said. “I’ll be back in just a few!”

With that she hurried from the room, closing the door behind her. 

Legend sat for a second, wondering if this was truly what he should be doing. Something akin to shame was settling in his gut, and he could almost hear the harsh words his father would’ve said if he knew that Legend were even _considering_ this. 

_But you aren’t with him anymore_ , Legend’s thoughts said. _You’re free to be who you are now._

With that thought in mind, Legend pulled the outfit out of the bag. 

“Huh,” he said after he had spread it out on the bed. 

The bag had contained a dark blue pleated skirt that actually had shorts attached to it. 

A skort? Legend knew the name of the article only because his mother used to criticize such fashion choices. 

Upon further inspection, Legend realized it only had the skirt draped over the left thigh while the short showed on the right. The skort had a small floral design on the front left hip (Legend thought the flowers were various shades of hibiscus flowers, but he wasn’t sure). Also contained in the bag was a plain white t-shirt, a faded denim jacket, and long white socks topped with three dark blue stripes. 

The outfit was unlike anything Legend had ever worn before, but…

He didn’t hate it. 

In fact, as he picked up the skort and held it up in front of himself in the mirror hanging on Wild’s closet door, he realized he was _excited_ to wear it. 

With a grin, he hurried to change into the new outfit. He was pondering which shoes he would wear when he heard Wild knock on the door.

“Legend are you ready?” she asked, right as Legend threw open the door and dragged her in, not noticing the things she had in her arms. 

“Wild! This outfit! How...?”

Wild beamed as she took a step back from where Legend was holding her arms. 

“Aunt Sheik and I picked it out for you,” she said. “We wanted you to have something special if you ever decided to dress non-masculinely.” The brightness of her smile softened a little as she continued. “I’m glad you like it.”

“I do!” Legend agreed, turning back to look at himself in the mirror. “I’m not sure what shoes to wear though.”

“Oh, I already got the ones you need!” Wild said. Legend turned to see her holding up Legend’s pair of white high-top Converse. He raised an eyebrow at her as Wild handed the shoes to him. “I grabbed them on my way back,” she said. “I promise, they’re the best option for this outfit.”

Legend couldn’t argue as he plopped down in the papasan chair again to put the shoes on. Wild bounced excitedly as she waited, her newly braided hair flipping over her shoulder as she did. 

After making sure that the laces of his shoes were tied properly, Legend looked up to see Wild holding another, smaller bag in front of his face.

“What’s this?” Legend asked. 

“Every good outfit needs accessories,” Wild stated bluntly. 

Legend huffed a laugh as he took the bag from Wild. At the top of the bag he found a pale, pastel pink beret that was very loosely woven so it almost seemed as if it were more of a small net than a hat. He glanced up at Wild with a question ready to form before Wild jumped in:

“You are almost always wearing a beanie of some kind, but well, your regular beanies wouldn’t work with the outfits Aunt Sheik and I bought you so we got you new hats!” She shuffled her feet nervously as she gestured to the bag still sitting on Legend’s lap. “I can help you put it on in a minute, but there’s one last thing in the bag first.”

With a slight frown, Legend reached back into the bag to pull out a small flat jewelry box. It looked similar to the ones that Legend had seen his mother keep her formal pearls in. Tilting his head to the side, he slowly opened the box. 

Inside was a small golden charm on a leather cord. The charm was of a horse running with an arrow underneath its feet. 

Legend recognized it, of course. It was the symbol for Lon Lon Ranch, and therefore the symbol that represented the Forrester family (though technically it had originally been for Malon’s family, he knew). 

He… wasn’t sure why Wild was giving this to him though. 

Legend looked up to meet Wild’s gaze. There was a kind of anxious anticipation in her eyes that Legend wasn’t sure how to interpret. 

“Wild…” he started. 

“I know it may seem like a lot,” Wild said. “But I didn’t have to pay for the charm. Urbosa has an older cousin who is a jeweler. She owed me a favor and was more than willing to make the charm. And don’t worry I didn’t tell her or Urbosa it was for you!”

“Wild…” Legend tried again, but Wild plowed on. 

“You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. I wasn’t sure if you would like necklaces or jewelry or anything like that. But I thought it would be a nice thing to have… a way of reminding you that you’re part of our family now and-”

She cut off as Legend suddenly sprung up and hugged her tight. 

“Thank you Wild,” Legend whispered, a little shocked that there were tears forming in his eyes. “I love it.”

Wild was surprised for a second before relaxing into the hugging and wrapping her arms around Legend. 

“I’m glad,” she said. “I was a little worried, since you haven’t been with us that long, but… you really _are_ a part of our family now.”

“I know,” Legend said. “Honestly, you guys are the closest thing I’ve ever had to a _true_ family before.”

“We’re always here for you, remember that,” Wild said. She pulled him tighter for a second before jumping back just as quickly. “Oh! I forgot! What pronouns do you want to use today?”

“Wha?” Legend asked, slightly dumbfounded. 

“You know, pronouns,” Wild answered, gesturing vaguely. “You can change them if you want. But if you want to stick with he/him that’s fine too!”

Legend blinked, having not considered that with how he (?) had felt today. 

“I… I hadn’t thought about it,” Legend admitted. “I was mainly just thinking about how the clothes felt weird, but… maybe…” He (??) paused to consider it. “Maybe he/him pronouns _don’t_ fit? I don’t know.”

“Hmm,” Wild frowned as she seemed to be thinking. “Okay, well how about this: how do you feel when I say ‘oh, that’s Legend. _He’s_ my _brother’.”_

Oh. Legend didn’t know how to react to the weird feeling that settled over him ( _no, that wasn’t right_ ) when Wild said that. 

“I… no. That’s not it.”

“Okay then,” Wild said. “Then what about ‘ _she’s_ my _sister_ ’?”

That one didn’t make Legend feel as weird, but still wasn’t right. 

With another shake of the head, Wild nodded. 

“Alright, so then ‘ _they_ are my _sibling’_?”

There wasn’t an immediate reaction to that one. At least not one that Legend noticed. The words kind of just floated in and made a home in his - no _their_ \- soul. 

Yes, that was it. 

“I… I like that one,” Legend said. “It… I can’t really describe it, but it just feels less… constraining? I think that’s the best way for me to explain how I feel today.”

“That makes perfect sense,” Wild said. “On my more neutral days, I tend to feel like that too.”

“WILD! LEGEND!! I AM LEAVING!” Twilight shouted up the stairs. 

“Oops!” Wild said with an amused expression on her face as she turned to grab her school bag from her desk. “Go grab your stuff and I’ll meet you at the top of the stairs! Oh, and one last thing.” She turned back to Legend, a serious expression back on her face. “Are you okay with this?”

Legend gave her a confused look. “Okay with what?” they asked.

Wild gestured to Legend’s outfit. “Your outfit, changing pronouns… Are you okay with the fact that doing this means you’ll be coming out to people at school?”

“Oh,” Legend said quietly. They hadn’t… thought about that. But, as they thought about it now, the prospect of coming out to others at school didn’t actually scare them.

“I… I’m okay with it,” they said, letting their voice build in confidence as they grinned over at Wild. “Besides, I’m already dressed. Can’t waste this kick ass outfit, after all.”

Wild laughed as she stepped towards the door. “Well then, we should get going!”

Legend nodded, putting both the necklace and beret back in the bag before running out back across the hall. 

A few minutes later and they found Wild just like she had said, waiting at the top of the stairs. 

“Oh! You put the hat and necklace on!” Wild said excitedly. 

Legend grinned. “Every good outfit needs accessories,” they said.

**Author's Note:**

> Written by pulveremcomedesligulas
> 
> This is a fic I wrote for the NaNo prompt Necklace. The story carries over the whole timeline of the au, so the updates for this will be slow to coincide with the other arcs being posted on ao3. This was one of the fics I was incredibly proud of to write during NaNo, and I'm excited to be sharing it with you all. 
> 
> As with my other writings containing Wild and Legend's gender identities, please let me know if there is anything I need to correct to properly represent them.


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